Broken Soul
by mr. 96
Summary: An epilogue of sorts to Onikakushi-hen. Afterkilling his friends, Keiichi is left in a metal hospital. Can he use his madness to restore his sanity? KeiichiXRena and KaiichiXMio


**mr. 96: Hello once again! This is my attempt to return to the darker fics after a series of lighthearted stories like my Power Rangers fic and Optimus Prime's mask. So, here I am with a Higurashi fic. It takes place after the first arc assuming that Keiichi didn't kill himself at the end.**

Oishi Kuraudo drove up to the Tokyo Mental Ward. While he was happy to get away from the insanity of Hinamizawa, he really didn't want to be here. It all started when he asked Keiichi Maebara to assist in a case of his concerning a murder. After a while, Keiichi found out the identity of the killer, a man who called himself "Oyashiro" and ran a cartel that manipulated the local "Hinamizawa Syndrome" to bring people to insanity. It was lucky they arrived on the scene when they did, or else Keiichi would have committed suicide and Oyashiro would have gotten away. But Keiichi was traumatized for life—he himself killed Mion and Rena, two people who were some of the best friends he ever had, simply because he thought they were out to kill him. At first he thought of bringing him in for murder, but upon interviewing him he decided it would be best for him to plead insane and be sent to a mental hospital. Keiichi hardly resisted, feeling that he deserved to be executed for what he had done. However, they decided that it would be best that he be treated for his mental illness. Oishi walked in. "I'm here to see Keiichi Maebara," he said to the secretary. A doctor came in. "Oh, I'll take him to you," he said, "But be warned: He doesn't take kindly to company." They walked down a hall. "He's a real problem. We have to keep him physically restrained to prevent him from killing himself." They finally arrived to his room. "Hello, Keiichi," Oishi started to say, but then stopped mid-sentence out of the shock—Keiichi had been put in a straightjacket. "Detective Oishi?" he said, trying his best to stand up in his condition. "You would have to come back to see me….after all that happened?" he said. He looked desperate for something, although Oishi couldn't figure out what. "I just wanted to see how you're taking everything that's happened to you, son," the detective answered, trying to keep the insane teenager calm. "How I'm taking it? I just killed my two best friends! How do _you _think I'm taking it?" Keiichi raged. "I told you it was all Oyashiro, but you didn't believe me! Nobody took me seriously when I said I was cursed by Oyashiro!" "Calm down, Keiichi," Oishi said, failing to remember ever disbelieving anything Keiichi said…or him ever saying that he'd been cursed by Oyashiro. "We caught Oyashiro, remember?" "You say that now," Keiichi replied, "But the fact is that he wasn't Oyashiro! I met the _real _Oyashiro!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Oishi looked at the doctor. "He goes back and forth from claiming he was cursed by Oyashiro and that nobody believed him to saying that he himself was an agent of Oyashiro—not the person you actually caught, but the actual being of myth," the psychiatrist explained. "Now, if you'll excuse me, we can't allow you any more time. We believe that allowing visitors help the patients reconnect with who they really are, but if they react negatively to the visitors it hinders our research." "Not good," Oishi replied, "At this rate, the only ones who could help him now are the two people he killed."

Later that night, Keiichi sat in a corner, crying. The doctors were willing to take the straightjacket off of him during night hours after they discovered that he wouldn't claw out his throat at that hour, but that still didn't stop him from crying himself to sleep every night. "I killed them…sniff…" he mumbled to himself, "They were….my friends….I loved them! How could I have ever chosen between them?" He started crying uncontrollably. "And I killed them both! I'm the worst piece of total scum! I'm so sorry….I'm sorry….but it's too late!" _"No, it isn't. It wasn't your fault, Kei-kun," _avoice drifted in from nowhere. "R-Rena?" he said, recognizing the voice, "But how could it be you? You died!" _"A-hahaha! Still the same old Keiichi!" _another voice said. "Mion? You too?" Keiichi asked. Suddenly he saw the two people who he'd killed walking towards him. "Now you've come to take revenge at me….after what I've done," he said, backing up, "….I can't blame you!" _"No, you've got it all wrong," _Rena said, _"We came to see you, one last time." _"But why?" Keiichi shrieked, "I caused all of this to happen to you! I'm sorry…" Mion slapped him in the face. _"Pull yourself together! It's not your fault!" _she said, _"You only did it because we were trying to kill you! We're the ones who should be apologizing!"_ She sat down on the bed next to him. _"You're only in here because you could never forgive yourself! It's time you stopped grieving about us and moved on!" _"N-no, I can't…" Keiichi said, "I loved you both and then I killed you…I deserve to die!" _"But you need to move on, Keiichi," _Rena said, _"We don't want you to be sad just because we died. We were wrong—we were being mean to you by not trusting you." "Yeah, Kei," _Mion chimed in, _"You need to forget about us, and move on with your life!" _They both kissed him on each cheek. _"Now wake up!" _Mion said. "W-why?" Keiichi asked, confused, "I'm not asleep!" _"You're dreaming!" _she said, as her voice faded away. That morning, Keiichi woke up. "Nurse," he said, "I've got a feeling I'll be checking out today_…_"

"….And that's the story, doctor," he said to his psychiatrist, "Was I really dreaming the entire time?" The psychiatrist took some notes on what Keiichi said, then answered, "It was likely more than a dream—most likely a hallucination brought on by a combination of greed and guilt." He smiled. "But what's important is that from it you were able to restore your sanity." Keiichi looked worried. "But—but that couldn't have been a hallucination!" he said, "They were there—I saw them! I even felt it when they kissed me!" "You can also 'feel' things in a _dream, _Keiichi," the psychiatrist said, "But besides that, you're perfectly fine. I'm sure that this dream, or hallucination, or whatever it was, was not too different from what Rena and Mion would actually say to you." "Thank you, doctor," Keiichi said, rising from his chair. Oishi was waiting outside the door. "Can I come in?" he asked. "Sure—wait a second, Keiichi," the doctor said. "Well?" Oishi asked. "It's rather unique—a scientific miracle which even Freud could never have accounted for," the psychiatrist said, "Keiichi actually used a hallucination to bring himself back to sanity, something that is an inherent paradox in and of itself. I'd like to see if this method can be used on patients in the long run." He turned to where Keiichi was, to see that Keiichi was no longer there. "Where is he?" the doctors cried. "He's gone!" The entire hospital was in an uproar. "He couldn't have gone far!" "Where is he?" "I saw him just walk out!" "And you let him?" The psychiatrist sighed. "Either way, it seems he's back to mental health again," he said, "I don't think we could have stopped him if we tried. I just hope he doesn't go back to Hinamizawa again." "You're right about that!" Oishi laughed.


End file.
